Consolidating panel painting

Petar Gerasimov <pgerasimov [at] yahoo__com> writes

>A team of conservators are working at the reinforcement
>(consolidation) of the several tempera panel painting. The wood have
>a great damage caused by worms, so it is like a sponge. It is
>causing the problems during the treating of the surface-painting
>layer and the ground.
>
>Several methods, like soaking into wax solution or using plexigum
>solution, are in option. Does anyone have experience with this kind
>of problems, or have new methods and new solutions for this matter.

It would be nice to know from which country, city and museum(?) this
request comes from and also what the approximate size these
paintings are.

Yes, there are people who have experience in the field. My
suggestion would be to first read and consult one recent publication
in particular, edited by the GCI in 1998, "The structural
conservation of Panel Paintings" (see also my book review of this
considerable volume in Studies in Conservation, 1999/4, p.285),
which are the postprints of a remarkable symposium held in 1995 at
the Getty Museum in Santa Monica, California.

This will give you bases for approaches, contacts and discussion
with experienced colleagues on how to solve your tempera panel
problems. Once you worked through this volume and all the
bibliographic information assembled there you'll more or less know
the present state of the arts in this field and be able to more
precisely assess your problem. There is more literature, of similar
interest but not as specifically addressing panel paintings; f.e.
another GCI publication of a similar size: "Painted wood--history
and conservation" published also 1998 and "Gilded Wood,
conservation and history", Madison, Conn. published in 1991.

Al Brewer is a particularly well informed specialist on panel
painting conservation, 113305.2351 [at] compuserve__com. His postal
address in the IIC directory 1999-2000 seems outdated, as to my
knowledge he is in England now. He may be willing and able to help
you further.

Hans-Christoph von Imhoff
Conservateur-restaurateur CR-SCR, FIIC, PA-AIC
Lorette 28
CH - 1700 Fribourg / Suisse
+41 26 321 14 44
Fax: +41 26 321 14 40


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:50
                 Distributed: Wednesday, April 5, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-50-001
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